The Biggest Loser – Week 8

I’m so glad this competition is almost over. I’ve suffered and starved myself for 8 weeks now and haven’t lost a pound. Our final weigh-out is taking place next week and this is a long weekend coming up. I think there’s going to be a lot of people putting in 1000kms over the next 4 days in order to take this competition to a whole new level. I know I will…I’m not going down without a last minute fight! That said, I cannot believe that some of these already lean cyclists have managed to shed up to 7kgs! Champions!

Weight Loss Tip – Calories in…Calories out

The basic premise of all weight control programs is that weight loss occurs when the number of Calories burned over a 24 hour period is greater than the number consumed. The deficit (covered by Calories from the fat reserves) results in weight loss. 1 kg of body fat equals ~7700 Calories

WEIGHT LOSS(KGs) = (CALORIES BURNED – CALORIES CONSUMED)/7700

Using a HR monitor or Powermeter can closely estimate the amount of calories you burn during exercise. You can figure out your BMR to find out the number of calories you burn by simply “being”. A quick and dirty estimate is 10 x your body weight in lbs. For example, I would burn about 1800 calories a day without exercise (I’m ~180lbs). If you reduce your food intake by 500 calories per day you will lose 1/2kg per week – a healthy amount. Of course, this gets harder as you get leaner.